The Earth had many moonlets once

New research by Scientists from Weizmann Institute of Science might just dispute what we think we know about how the moon came into being.

Earlier studies have suggested that the moon came into existence through one massive collision between Earth and another celestial body known as Theia, which took place around 4.5 billion years ago.

The debris that formed from what is popularly known as the 'Big Splash' then went ahead to cool down and form the Moon we know today.

The moon is the most common astronomical body that is well known to Astronomers and has been the subject of numerous studies. The moon cycles are so predictable, that if it breaks from its usual routine, Astronomers can predict that break from tradition like 1000 years prior.

New research by Scientists from Weizmann Institute of Science might just dispute what we think we know about how the moon came into being.

The new study suggests that instead of one giant collision between Earth and Theia, there were mergers between smaller rocks, around a dozen in number, which came together to form the moon.

It is not the first time though that this theory is coming up. At the onset of the millennium, some rocks that had been brought from the moon by Apollo showed that the elements found on the rocks were almost similar to those of Earth. If a major collision actually happened, there would have been traces of Theia on those rocks, but none were found.

It is, therefore, possible that smaller rocks orbiting around the Earth bumped into each other over a period, then came together to form the large moon mass